The Mount Si Wildcats are moving into the postseason with a long road ahead of them. Last Tuesday, they maintained their hold of first place in the Kingco 3A standings with a nice win over the Interlake Saints.

The Wildcats went on a 14-0 run midway through the first half and, despite the Saints’ best efforts, controlled the game the rest of the way en route to a 69-55 victory. All Mount Si players who played scored points in the contest, led by the 18 points of Kyle Meuli and 17 points of Kevin Englund. Mount Si “held serve” in the standings and Wildcat coach Garrick Phillips was pleased.

“That’s a pretty good way to put it is ‘holding serve.’ We didn’t play fantastic, but again, I thought we defended very well. Offensive rebounds are still an issue that we have to combat,” said Phillips, who added Interlake took advantage of that and scored many of their points, especially in the first half, on “second chance opportunities.”

In that department, Interlake outscored Mount Si 16-9, but the Saints were no match for the Wildcats’ speed, athleticism and defense as the game winded down.

Jimmy King scored a game-high 22 points to lead the Saints, while Kyle Clearman scored 14 and added nine rebounds to pace Mount Si. Corey Sullivan pitched in a respectable eight-point, 10-rebound effort for the Saints.

With an upset loss last Tuesday by Newport to Issaquah, Friday night set out to be one of the best nights the Wildcats have seen in some time. It was Senior Night, as the Mount Si program honored all eight of its seniors: Clearman, Englund, Meuli, Ryan Reilly, Tylor Littlejohn, Greg Beckmann, Nick Dietsch and Remo Castagno. The Wildcats were playing for the Kingco regular season title against a desperate Mercer Island squad.

Unfortunately for Mount Si, it didn’t go as well as hoped. Nerves were a key factor in this one, as the Wildcats struggled offensively throughout the contest, especially in the first half. MI took an 8-7 lead after one quarter and never looked back, beating Mount Si 51-44 and postponing the title celebration until this week. The Wildcats have not won a league title since 1979, when Mount Si was a member of the Seamount League. In Kingco, Mount Si has not won a league crown in boys’ basketball since 1961.

The game looked rather ugly, particularly in the first half. Don’t tell that, though, to legendary Mercer Island coach Ed Pepple.

“I didn’t think there was anything ugly about it. I thought it was a beautiful game and our kids probably played their best game of the year,” Pepple said.

Leroy Lutu scored 16 points for the Islanders. Lutu’s free throws were key down the stretch to help MI’s cause. The Islanders moved into a three-way tie for the final two Kingco playoff spots with the victory. Englund scored 17 points and Clearman scored 12 to pace the Wildcats.

For Meuli, his four years in the Mount Si program have been something special.

“It’s been a blast. I’ll never forget it,” Meuli said.

Meuli also told the Valley Record he’s looking at various options for college, possibly for either basketball or football. He mentioned Linfield (Oregon) and Whitworth of Spokane as two possibilities.

The Wildcats also suffered a key injury in the contest: Castagno only played 87 seconds of the game before being forced to leave the contest with 7:03 left in the first half with an ankle injury. Castagno came out of the locker room after the game on crutches, so his status for this week is not known. Losing Castagno, a potent threat from off the bench, could be significant.

Mount Si is at Newport to close out the regular season Thursday. If the Wildcats failed to wrap up the league regular season title Tuesday, either with a win or a Knights’ loss at Sammamish, this game Thursday will be for the league title. Tip time is at 7:30 p.m. If you plan to go and watch that contest, be advised there is major construction going on at the Newport campus, and the gym parking area has been moved as a result.

It appears likely that the Wildcats will open play next Thursday at the Kingco Tournament. The game will either be at 3 p.m. or at 6:30 p.m., at Bellevue Community College against an opponent to be determined. They will also play next Friday at the tournament.